CII holds meetings with BJP,
Congress leadersNew Delhi, March 4
Barely six weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, captains of Indian industry under the aegis of CII today had a “free-flowing discussions” with top representatives from the two main contending parties — Congress and the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP).

BJP
President Venkaiah Nadu addresses a CII meeting in New Delhi on
Thursday. CII president Anand Mahendra (L) and vice-president S.K.
Munjal (L) are also seen in the picture. — PTI photo

Das to step down as CII directorNew Delhi, March 4
After shaping the remarkable growth of the CII for over four decades, its Director General Tarun Das will demit office on May 31 this year.

Nicolas Baretzki, International Director of Swiss watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre, along with model Shefali Talwar, at the launch of the company’s watches in New Delhi on Thursday. — PTI

‘Globalisation should benefit the poor’New Delhi, March 4
Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat today criticised the globalisation process as it was sharpening the divide between haves and have-nots in India as well as the world over.

Stock markets may remain range-bound
Ludhiana, March 4
The recent initiatives by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) including regulations of margin trading and securities landing have lend a push to the stock markets which have already been experiencing a huge bull run.

Sirsa sugar mill costs Haryana dear
Chandigarh, March 4
The Haryana Government’s decision to set up a sugar mill at Sirsa, Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala’s home district, appears to be a mistake in the light of performance of the mill.

Price of HR coils slashed by Rs 2000New Delhi, March 4
Steel producers have slashed prices of hot-rolled coils (HRC) by Rs 1,500-2,000 per MT following reduction in the excise duty on steel from 16 per cent to 8 per cent.
The current price of HR coils is Rs 27,000 per MT (ex-factory) plus excise duty. After the reduction, the price is likely to come down to Rs 25,000 per MT.

McDonalds to phase out French friesNew York, March 4
Sensing changing times and under pressure from health food enthusiasts, fast food chain McDonalds has decided to phase out supersize French fries and soft drinks with a view to eliminating them by the end of the year.

Firms should be allowed to sell oil at international rate
Manoj Kumar
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 4
Public sector petroleum companies are resenting that despite the government’s promise to allow these firms to sell products at the international market rate, the government has failed to keep its words.

Oil sector stakeholders lament that they have to bear a burden of subsidising the LPG and kerosene to the consumers due to political considerations. The lower price of kerosene and diesel has encouraged some dealers to mix them with petrol, thus damaging the engines of lakhs of two-wheelers, cars and other vehicles creating environment pollution in the country.

According to Carter Branden, an environmental economist with the World Bank, the cost of environmental degradation in India is estimated to be about 5 per cent of the GDP
annually. The policy and investment implications of these are many. The
consumption of petroleum products in the country is estimated to have reached 103.71 million metric tonnes (MMT) in 2002-03 as against 90.60 MMT in 1998-99 though the domestic crude production had marginally increased from 32.75 MMT to 33.07MMT during that period.

According to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the demand for petroleum products is growing at an annual rate of 5 per cent.

The country is currently spending over Rs 80,000 crore annually on petroleum products to meet 70 per cent of its demand.

Senior officials in the ministry maintained that though the annual capacity of 18 refineries in the country had reached 116 MMT, the country had to import LPG and kerosene. Ironically, there was a surplus of petrol and diesel in the domestic market.

He said: “In the international market, the difference between the price of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG is hardly of Re1 or Rs 2, but in India the price difference is up to Rs 23 between kerosene and petrol and over Rs 10 between petrol and diesel. Consequently, a large portion of kerosene is illegally diverted in the black market and is mixed with the petrol and diesel.”

Condemning the advocates of the subsidy, he said, those who advocate energy subsidies and encourage energy consumption with low prices were imposing a heavy burden on the economic efficiency and government budget.

According to the “Hydrocarbon Vision 2025,” the country will have to make an investment of $51.02 billion by that year to increase the capacity of its refineries. The demand for petroleum products is expected to reach 368 MMT by 2024-25.

The official said the ministry was making efforts to increase the supply of LPG to about 50 per cent of the total population of the country in the next few years to cut down the supply of highly subsidised kerosene. But, he said, “the true picture of demand and supply will emerge after the withdrawal of subsidy to the LPG and other petroleum products as well. The ministry expects that after the elections, the next government will take a decision in this regard.”

New Delhi, March 4
Barely six weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, captains of Indian industry under the aegis of CII today had a “free-flowing discussions” with top representatives from the two main contending parties — Congress and the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP).

At the same time, the industry association has recommended its 4,800-member companies to adopt transparent methods for election funding and make contribution to political parties only through
cheque.

“The interaction with Mr Naidu and Dr Singh was free-flowing. The idea was to create an open forum for discussion between industry and political leaders. The contents of the meeting obviously is confidential and cannot be divulged”, CII President Mr Anand Mahindra said.

He said that Dr Singh presented “his
own view on economy, his party’s agenda”.

“We at the CII have been advocating a transparent process of election funding. Our members
have been recommended to make any contributions to political parties to
cheque”, Mr Mahindra said.

In fact, his own company Mahindra & Mahindra have made contributions only through
cheque.

“During the last three elections, we have made equal contributions to the two main political parties through
cheque”, he said.

The Election Commission for the first time has sought the services of CII for some components of electoral management.

Elaborating on the brief given by the EC to the industry association, Mr Mahindra said that the CII’s mandate was to “create awareness among voters to vote”, especially young voters.

“We are in the process of conceptualising the exercise. We are considering options such as touch screens and information kiosks”, he said.

CII Director General Tarun Das, who is personally overseeing the exercise, said that it would undertake an “outreach campaign” which will have two basic components “register yourself as a voter and go out to vote”.

“Essentially the objective of the outreach campaign is to get voters of more than 18 years to register and exercise franchise”, Mr Das said.

New Delhi, March 4
After shaping the remarkable growth of the CII for over four decades, its Director General Tarun Das will demit office on May 31 this year.

He will be succeeded by N. Srinivasan, who is at present a Deputy Director General with the CII.

“Tarun and the CII are indistinguishable”, CII President Anand Mahindra told newspersons here today. Mr Das will continue to serve the CII as “Chief Mentor” and will co-ordinate a newly established Global Advisory Council for the CII.

“The newly formed council will include leaders from overseas organisations with whom the CII has built strong connections and prominent Indian leaders, thereby growing and further strengthening the CII’s external network”, Mr Mahindra said.

He will also participated in the National Council and Steering Committee of the CII, among other activities, the CII President said.

Mr Das is credited in making the CII into such an influential association from its rudimentary beginnings under various names, including the Association of Indian Engineering Industry (AIEI), the Confederation of Engineering Industry (CEI) and finally to the CII.

Mr Das’s successor, Mr Srinivasan has been with the CII since 1974 and is believed to be a thorough professional and is a graduate in Metallurgical Engineering.

New Delhi, March 4
Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat today criticised the globalisation process as it was sharpening the divide between haves and have-nots in India as well as the world over.

Delivering his valedictory address at the 18th World Bamboo Congress (WBC) here, he said the main reason for this distortion was that the “policies pursued for the sake of globalisation did not become the means to a more equitable and sustainable growth.”

“We need globalisation that works for poverty alleviation and improving the world environment — success of globalisation means that there should be none living in poverty,” he said.

His observation came during the six-day Bamboo Congress which is deliberating on application of appropriate technologies in planting, rearing and manufacturing of bamboo products as a means to distribute economic benefits to the poor strata of the society engaged in the bamboo sector.

Held for the first time in India, the WBC focused on alternate uses of bamboo, showcasing bamboo technologies and production with emphasis on its socio-economic dimensions contributing to poverty alleviation and environment conservation.

India’s domestic bamboo economy is estimated at Rs 2,043 crore with an annual growth rate of 15 to 20 per cent while China’s bamboo industry, at present, is 13 times that of India at Rs 26,000 crore.

Ludhiana, March 4
The recent initiatives by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) including regulations of margin trading and securities landing have lend a push to the stock markets which have already been experiencing a huge bull run. The BSE Sensex which hovered around 2900 in April end last year, has already touched an all-time high of 6249.6 this year on January 9, 2004. The earlier high touched by Sensex was 6150 in February, 2000. At present the Sensex is trading around 5,670 not withstanding the sharp fall of 172 points on February 19, 2004, sending panic waves in investors’ minds.

Market experts say there is no need to panic and investors should not off load shares at this time as long-term prospects of market remain bullish. It is only in the short term, during the run up to the general elections in May, 2004, that market is expected to trade in a particular range with alternate bouts of buying and selling.

The experts are further say that a stable government if it comes through, will help the reforms agenda being carried forward. Further, the expectations of the investors have been raised by the government by giving enough indications in the mini Budget.

The two important aspects of the stock markets will be the forms in disinvestment sector and power sector. Once a stable government is in power the FIIs funds inflow will also be sustained and will give a big push to the markets.

The experts claim that another factor is that the mutual fund operating in India have collected huge sums running over Rs 30,000 crore and a major part of these funds will find its way into the capital markets. There is also a news report that the stock exchange, Mumbai, (BSE) has inducted 27 new members, most of whom are leading domestic and foreign broking houses. Besides a lot of new foreign institutional investors (FII) have sought registration with SEBI. All these factors give an indication of sustained bull phase in the post-election scenario, says Mr R.C. Singal, a director and a former president, Ludhiana Stock Exchange.

According to Mr Singal, it is also felt that the debt instruments will not be attractive for the investors due to low interest regime and as such funds will continue to be diverted to the equity markets in future as well.

With enough liquidity in the system, the experts are of the view that from the present level the markets are bound to go up. However, that till the election process is over the markets are likely to remain range-bound with Sensex remaining in the range of 5500-6200.

Chandigarh, March 4
The Haryana Government’s decision to set up a sugar mill at Sirsa, Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala’s home district, appears to be a mistake in the light of performance of the mill.

The mill has crushed only 4.8 lakh quintals of cane in the current year and is the worst performer among the 12 sugar mills in the state. The mill crushed 16 per cent of its total capacity. The mill was also the first to close crushing operations on February 6.

Sugarfed had earlier said in a report that only 3 lakh quintals of cane would be available for crushing by the mill in 2003-04. In fact the report raised questions about the viability of the mill in view of unavailability of cane in Sirsa. The state government, however, decided to ignore the observation made by Sugarfed.

The value of the cane crushed by the mill in the current season has been worked out to be Rs 5.16 crore out of which Rs 2.8 crore has been already paid to the farmers. The mill will have to pay the farmers Rs 2.36 crore more for which it is likely to ask the state government for help.

Sources said the Sirsa mill had been incurring losses since its inception in 2001-02. Its accumulated loss till date has been worked out to be over Rs 18 crore.

The Gohana mill, also set up in 2001-02, is doing much better than its counterpart at Sirsa. Though this mill too is in loss, it is at least not suffering from short-supply of raw material. The mill has so far crushed 23.49 lakh quintals of cane in the current crushing season and its performance is second best after the Shahbad mill which has recorded 36.44 lakh quintal in the 2003-04 crushing season.

New Delhi, March 4
Steel producers have slashed prices of hot-rolled coils (HRC) by Rs 1,500-2,000 per MT following reduction in the excise duty on steel from 16 per cent to 8 per cent.

The current price of HR coils is Rs 27,000 per MT (ex-factory) plus excise duty. After the reduction, the price is likely to come down to Rs 25,000 per MT.

The reduction is in the larger interest of domestic non-exporting customers, Indian Steel Alliance (ISA) Chairman J.J. Irani said in a statement here yesterday.

The move would pass on the benefit of the recent reduction in excise duty in full to customers. This would be approximately an additional Rs 2000. The stakeholders would make required adjustments in their selling prices accordingly.
— UNI

New Delhi, March 4
Tata Group plans to invest about $ 2 billion in telecom during the next two years towards expansion and roll-out in new circles.

“The investment target is around $ 2 billion in the next two years or a little more,” K. A. Chaukar, Managing Director of Tata Industries Ltd told reporters on the sidelines of a CII Telecom Summit 2004 here.

Chaukar said that the amount would be used for expansion in the existing six telecom circles of Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, as well as for roll-out in the 11 new circles.

“There will be expansion in six circles in the next one

month or so and launch in 11 new circles in 3-4 months after that,” Chaukar said.

New York, March 4
Sensing changing times and under pressure from health food enthusiasts, fast food chain McDonalds has decided to phase out supersize French fries and soft drinks with a view to eliminating them by the end of the year.

The move is part of its campaign “Eat Smart, Be Active” launched last year to revive its sagging sale as America’s love affair with “healthy foods” started picking up.

It has also introduced entire-size salads, started providing options for yogurt and fruits with meals and introduced fruit and milk meal for children to win new customers.

The decision has been welcomed by the health activists who see their victory in the decision. They blame large fatty potions served by fast food chains for almost half of the United States population - from young children to the old - being obese or overweight.

McDonalds said it was making changes to simplify menu and promote a “balanced” lifestyle. But as a matter of fact not many supersize French fries were sold, it asserted apparently to counter the impression that it had done so under pressure.

The supersizes include 7-ounce carton of French fries and 24-ounce fountain soda, the sizes, the critics had particularly attacked.

McDonalds is not the only fast food chain which is eliminating the supersizes. Others are also quietly shelving such sizes or giving choices beyond fast foods to avoid criticism.
— PTI

New Delhi, March 4
To promote the awfully low consumption of bread across the country, the All-India Bread Manufacturers’ Association (AIBMA) has thought of an innovative plan — celebrating March 11 as the National Bread Day.

The exercise is aimed at projecting the bread as a nutritious, hygienically processed snack food affordable to the common man.
— TNS

Essen DeinkiChandigarh, March 4
Essen Deinki, a Chandigarh-based ISO 9001-2000 certified company and manufacturer
of precision electro-mechanical components, has recently been awarded the inaugural ‘‘Electronics For You’’ readers choice award, 2004, in the category of switches. Mr N.K. Aggarwal, managing partner of the company, received the trophy from Mr Teck Lee Low, Regional Director of Tektronix Asia Pacific (south), at a function held in Delhi recently.
— TNS

NabardChandigarh, March 4
Nabard has projected priority sector lending under the Potential Linked Credit Plans ( PLP) for 2004-05 in Haryana at Rs 11,144.27 crore as against the projected Rs 9,134.31 crore last year. The economic progress in the state is a result of the credit flow into this sector. Prof Sampat Singh, Finance Minister, Haryana, disclosed this while inaugurating a credit seminar organised by Nabard yesterday.
— TNS

Bio-colaHyderabad, March 4
The multinational soft drink producers will soon have a rival from India — “a bio-cola” derived from ayurvedic herb “Brahmi”. Called “Dr No Cola”, the new product will be marketed by “Miracle Molecule”, a joint venture of Chennai-based Biopharma Private Limited and Singaporean company “The Hourglass Limited”.
— PTI

Hutch pactChandigarh, March 4
Hutch, today signed a three-year global sponsorship agreement with the International Cricket Council which entitles it to be its “Global Partner”. Hutch’s global sponsorship covers the Champions Trophy 2004, U-19 Cricket World Cup 2004, Super Series 2005, Champions Trophy 2006 and the World Cup 2007.
— TNS

Kurt in BhartiChandigarh, March 4
Bharti Tele-Ventures today announced the induction of Kurt Hellstrom, the former president and chief executive of Ericsson on its Board of Directors. Mr Kurt Hellstrom recently retired from Ericsson after putting 19 years in the company.
— TNS

Coates of IndiaMumbai, March 4
The board of Coates of India Ltd has recommended 35 per cent dividend for the year ended December 2003, subject to shareholders approval. The board has recommended payment of dividend of Rs 3.5 per share on 68.85 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each.
— PTI

BHEL bags orderNew Delhi, March 4
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) today said it has bagged a Rs 333 crore order from Gujarat State Electricity Corp Ltd for setting up Dhuvaran gas-based power project in Anand district.
— PTI